Long Tail is garbage without filters like Google

pg 99
For a generation of customers used to doing their buying research via search engine, a company's brand is not what the company says it is, but what Google says it is.

pg 108
The catch-all phrase for recommendations and all the other tools that help you find quality in the Long Tail is filters... In today's Long Tail markets, the main effect of filters is to help people move from the world they know ("hits") to the world they don't ("niches") via a route that is both comfortable and tailored to their tastes.

pg 116
Niches operate by different economics than mainstream. And the reason for that helps explain why so much about Long Tail content is counterintuitive, especially when we're used to scarcity thinking.

Two types of filters:
1. software - technology such as Amazon's recommendation list (ie 'those who bought these products, also bought this")
2. people - these are experts (e.g. critiques) that recommend music, videos, etc.

More discussions on filters at Chris Andersons' blog on Filters 101 25July2005